Families Demand Full Inquests For Deaths In Secure Hospitals

[Guest guest]

Mental Health Campaign: Families demand full inquests for deaths in

secure hospitals

By Nina Lakhani

Sunday, 27 January 2008

 

Legal experts and campaigners claim coroners are failing to

investigate thoroughly many of these deaths because of a legal

loophole, with the result that suspected failures in care and even

abuse are going undetected.

 

Coroners have complete freedom to determine the extent to which the

death of a mental health patient will be investigated, unlike deaths

in prison or police custody where they are legally compelled to

investigate fully in the presence of a jury.

 

In many cases they are refusing to hold jury inquests – widely seen

as a broader and more exacting form of inquiry.

 

Figures obtained by The Independent on Sunday show that 340 people

died in psychiatric hospitals while under section last year – nearly

one a day – although the Mental Health Care Commission believes some

deaths in psychiatric care are not being reported.

 

As a result, grieving families are left to battle an " archaic

system " , often for years, just to find out how their relatives died.

 

Critics claim it is evidence of the discrimination suffered by

mentally ill people and are demanding urgent changes to the law. " We

are talking about the ultimate injustice; people go into hospital for

a mental illness and are coming out dead. We need to send out a clear

message that whatever happened to the individual behind closed doors

is worthy of a thorough investigation, " says Paul Farmer, chief

executive ofthe mental health charity Mind

 

Coroners failing to investigate the deaths of psychiatric patients to

the satisfaction of the families now face a High Court legal

challenge.

 

Sandra Allen, a pianist and manic depressive, died of a heart attack

in a north London psychiatric hospital in 2006.

 

A coroner ruled she died of natural causes which were unavoidable,

but her children are challenging the coroner's verdict because they

believe their mother's death could have been avoided with better

care.

 

Mrs Allen, 61, died from a heart attack after choking on a sandwich

she had been left to eat unattended: she had no dentures and a long

history of choking. Staff failed to clear her airways and were unable

to operate an oxygen canister. She was still choking when the

ambulance arrived. It had waited for several minutes outside the unit

because the security guard was asleep.

 

Her family argue the coroner was wrong to reject their request for a

broader inquiry as much of the psychiatric and physical care she

received while under section was unacceptable and they believe it

contributed to her untimely death.

 

Devastated by the coroner's refusal to hear evidence from expert

witnesses, they say they will fight " as long as it takes " .

 

Solicitor Emma Norton, who acts for the family, said: " This case

highlights the difficulties often faced by families in ensuring there

are thorough inquiries into the deaths of patients in psychiatric

institutions.

 

" Unlike prisoners, the families of dead patients are not

automatically entitled to an inquest with a jury. It can be an uphill

battle to get the coroner to consider the wider issues relevant to

the death. There is a lot of inconsistency in these decisions and it

depends on the coroner. "

 

Critics argue patients who have been locked up and compelled to take

treatment they did not want deserve an equal standard of justice when

they die.

 

" This situation is indicative of how few rights mental health

patients have. They have done nothing wrong; their only crime is to

suffer from an illness, yet they have fewer rights than criminals, "

says Jane Harris, from the mental health charity Rethink.

 

" How many more people have to die without proper investigations? We

are talking about hundreds of deaths. "

 

Campaigners hoped the Government's proposed Coroners Bill might

remedy some of the failings, but it was not mentioned in the Queen's

Speech.

 

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice said: " The Bill proposes

that a coroner will investigate a death if they suspect the deceased

died while detained, irrespective of the nature of the death or the

type of detention. "

 

But the co-director of Inquest, Helen Shaw, said: " We cannot take it

for granted the Coroners Bill will happen just because the Government

says it will. We need to crank up the heat and campaigning so

detained patients are treated in the same way as any person detained

by the state. "

 

Andrew Lansley, shadow Secretary of State for Health, said: " There is

a pressing need for this Bill. The Government promised one and they

have had plenty of time to do so, but they have dithered and delayed. "

 

'Whenever we visited her on the ward she would be covered in bruises'

 

Steven Allen, 23, a trainee lawyer, is the second of Sandra Allen's

five children. Here he describes the family's determination to get

justice for their mother.

 

" My mum died in hospital while held under section 3 of the Mental

Health Act. She was 61 years old. Her life was a long battle with the

mental health system and now she's dead we have to keep battling for

her.

 

" She'd been in and out of hospitals since her 20s but as her physical

health got worse we fought hard to get her looked after properly; we

never won the fight. Whenever we visited her on the ward she would be

covered in bruises and we would leave feeling terrified for her.

 

" We desperately wanted her moved to the elderly ward but were told

she was too young and they wanted to 'keep muddling through'. I'm

sure the staff on the elderly ward would have been better qualified

to manage the heart attack.

 

" We believe she died needlessly. Why hadn't her heart disease been

picked up? Why couldn't the staff work a simple oxygen canister?

These are the questions we wanted the coroner to answer but he let us

down badly; he dismissed my mum's life as unimportant.

 

" We know this could take years but we want her struggles acknowledged

and justice, not just for her, but for every other family in this

situation. "

 

Independent.co.uk